| | 
Gareth Penny, managing director, De Beers
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Penny tops De Beers
David McKay
Posted: Fri, 27 May 2005
[miningmx.com] -- TIDINGS that Gareth Penny (42) is to become MD of De Beers has gone down relatively well. “He’s the form guy,” says Des Kilalea, an analyst at Nedcor Securities. And given his Bishops, Eton and Oxford education, Penny has all the hallmarks of a bred-in-the-bone De Beers executive.
Penny was also part of the strategic review during 1999 that ultimately resulted in the delisting of De Beers from the JSE Securities Exchange.
After serving as personal assistant to the chairman of De Beers and Anglo American Corp, Penny gradually climbed the ranks at De Beers. He was GM of the De Beers strategic review and later took control of its Diamond Trading Company’s (DTC) sales in London. In July, 2004 Penny was appointed MD of the DTC.
Penny takes over from Gary Ralfe in February 2006. Ralfe, the articulate right hand man of Nicky Oppenheimer, will continue to serve as a
nonexecutive director of De Beers’ SA unit, De Beers said in a statement.
One interesting question is where that leaves Jonathan Oppenheimer, currently MD of De Beers Centenary Mines, the SA arm of the diamond group. It’s quite likely that Jonathan will be passed over for the MD position at De Beers and be vaulted straight into the chairmanship when Nicky Oppenheimer retires, says one analyst.
Quite when that will be is unknown. Nicky Oppenheimer is aged over 65 while Jonathan is still around 35.
All things being equal, Penny will be in the job for years given his relative youth. What’s also known is that Penny’s appointment would have required the approval of Anglo American, a 45% shareholder in De Beers. According to market sources, the contract between the two companies insists that the Oppenheimers don’t have carte blanche in respect of succession policies.
| |
